R.I.P Sgt Greer-Travis
Funeral Arrangements for Officer Almondo Greer-Travis is this Friday, February 10, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. at Greater Grace Temple 23500 W. 7 Mile Rd

John 14:1-4 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.”
The Untold Story of Police Concessions: When Is Too Much Enough?
Ask anybody who's been around the police department or a police officer for more than a minute and they will tell you how tumultuous the relationship between the city and its public safety unions has been for decades.

They will relay to you the battles between the unions and mayors from Cavanaugh to Bing. They will share with you the decades of always being recognized as the lowest paid police department in the State of Michigan; how COLA (Cost of Living Allowance) was lost under Mayor Young and officers were laid off anyway after agreeing to a 10 percent cut.
(Read More: HuffPost Detroit)
City seeking concessions from public safety unions
The Detroit Police Command Officers Association and the Detroit Fire Fighters are giving consideration to making concessions to help the city of Detroit with its financial crisis. Some of the same concessions already given by the Detroit Police Officers Association are now being discussed with Mayor Bing's people and these unions. According to sources the city is not asking for wage reductions, they're looking for healthcare and pension concessions. City Council rejected a proposal to cut its own budget to help in this crisis.
Pugh not running for re-election
City Council President Charles Pugh announced today that he won't seek re-election to City Council in 2013. This is not really news when most believe and he has hinted that he intended to run for Mayor. This is an early signal to campaign donors that he intends to be a player in next years Mayors race. Pugh has been in the news recently for failure to pay his mortgage and facing eviction for the second time. He could also have some problems with his campaign finance reports from his 2009 Council election. There was a news report of mis-spent monies that Pugh denied.
Proposed Detroit City Council Map...Detnews
Cops jobs saved , for now
As expected and reported here first back in December Chief of Police Ralph Godbee, as promised, was able to get the federal COPS grant tweaked so the layoff notices sent out to 108 police officers could be averted. Good job. This will only stand if a couple things happen, (1) Mayor Bing does not cave into City Councils wishes to layoff officers (2) Governor Snyder loosens up the State purse strings and sends some dollars Detroit's way to help with the battle against crime. He could start by adding more dollars to the utility users tax which currently stands at $50 million and he could get the State Legislature to return the minimum number back to the 3,900 officers where it once was. It was lowered after State Representative George Cushingberry pushed legislation, at the request of Mayor Kilpatrick, to have it lowered.
Bing to Governor Snyder: Detroit needs more than lip service
See Detroit News
also see
Rod  Meloni's Blog:  A Major twist in a lot of Detroit wrong turns
Abandon your responsibilities- now that's leadership
Oh the sweet smell of success, an elected official with a already paid for car, gas, maintenance, a chauffeur and a nearly million dollar budget. Oops, not so sweet, especially when you're being foreclosed on because you're incapable of handling your personal finances. But hey this is America, it happens. A total of 2,698,967 properties entered some stage of foreclosure -- default notice, scheduled auction or bank repossession -- last year. Michigan is still one of the States with the highest rate of foreclosure. So Mr. Pugh is not anomalous. He is not the first Councilmember with such issues. But the fact that he is a sitting Councilman, the President of the City Council in fact, overseeing a city with its own severe cash flow problems is an embarrassment to the people who elected him to that office and hopefully to himself. Council President Pugh has been very outspoken about city workers taking cuts and making sacrifices and city residents tightening their belts and doing without. But apparently those are just mere words to the well dressed, well manicured Council leader. The Detroit News story reported that this is not the first problem of this sort for Pugh. These troubles followed 11 notices of eviction for unpaid rent at Trolley Plaza from 2001 to 2005. He apparently has a history of walking away from his responsibilities.
There is a song that says, "sweep around your own front door before sweeping around mine".

Charlie LeDuff Takes a Look at Charles Pugh's Political Finances

Blame for Detroit's problem falls on you the voter
What is Your Definition of Transparency?
Upon taking the office of Chief of Police , Chief Godbee swore he would be transparent. He would behave and demonstrate a different style of leadership than his predecessor Warren Evans. Evans like his predecessors Bully-Cummings and Jerry Oliver didn't know transparency and due to their inability in addressing the increase crime they rig the numbers. Early in his administration Chief Godbee would come before the people and tell them there is a problem with crime and list the categories where crime saw an increase. But just saying I'm sorry will only last so long. At some point there has to be results. Faced with a financial crisis, a shrinking police force and an executive team with no real desire or capability to fix the police department, leadership has now succumb to political pressures, folded into acts of desperation, disguised as innovative plans and best practices that will address the street level manpower shortage. There is no empirical data that will show Inside Out was a success. And worst yet the transparency we were promised long ago has now vanished along with support from the community and officers. The reason: inflation and deflation, not the kind we've become accustom to. This involves homicides in the city and police personnel on the street. Under Ella Bully-Cummings there were at least a half -dozen re-organizations, the worst of which involved the consolidation of police precincts to Districts. That change provided even less service to the community. Now precincts close when the streetlights come on; the doors are locked and the citizens are the losers.
Where is our police department headed and with whom? We will find out in the coming weeks and months.

News & Notes
Study: 40% of Police Officers Have Sleep Disorders
New York Times









The Daily Beast list Mayor Dave Bing as a rising star in U.S. Politics, huh?  Here is the quote: If there’s good news coming out of Detroit, you can probably thank Dave Bing. It’s not his first turn in the spotlight: he was a seven-time all-star in the NBA. Since becoming mayor of the beleaguered Motor City in 2009 after his predecessor’s massive corruption scandal, he’s worked to “right-size” the city, bring in young members of the creative class, and attract new business. But with massive deficits facing Detroit, it’s unclear whether Bing will be able to beat the buzzer to prevent municipal bankruptcy.

Dillon: State takeover avoidable if Detroit wins concessions from unions by early February
Below are the Key Characteristics of  a Detroit Emergency Manager that Governor Snyder's people are using as their measuring stick.

•Standing in the community – a familiar name and recognition in the city through involvement and/or participation over a period of time.

•Managed large operations and numbers of people – city has 44 depts and 11,000 employees

•Possess an operational knowledge of municipal finances – specific financial background not required but a working knowledge of municipal finances and their relationship to operations is essential.

•Knowledge and relationship with the “fabric” of the city, ie – community leaders,  religious, business, neighborhood, labor, etc

•Scandal free- no current or past scandals that will detract from the mission of EM

•Politically astute – must be capable  of and familiar with local politics of Detroit community.

•Strong leader – must be able and not afraid to make hard and prompt decisions

•Familiarity with operations of city of Detroit departments and agencies

•History of operational  change and innovation
State Looking for a Businessman to run Detroit
If rumors are true that the State of Michigan is looking for a businessman type person to run Detroit should an Emergency Manager become necessary the first question that will be asked is isn't that what we already have in Mayor Bing. Getting an EM for Detroit will be a hard enough sale. The people of Detroit will not sit still for another businessman running their city. The search for an EM does not have to look far for qualified candidates who can step in and handle this crisis. Among the names we mentioned were former Mayor Dennis Archer, his Deputy Mayor Freman Hendrix and Sean Werdlow a former appointee to Archer and Kilpatrick who has a background in accounting.

Here is another name to add to that list, former appointee to five (5)  Detroit Mayors Charlie Beckham. Since 1974 he's held the following positions working under the various Mayors that he served:
  • Chief Operating Officer
  • Director, Recreation Dept
  • Chief Administrative Officer
  • Director, General Services Dept
  • Group Executive (Opers)
  • Director, Public Lighting Dept
  • Executive Asst to Mayor
  • VP, Public Lighting Commission
  • Director, Water/Sewerage Dept
  • Dep. Director, Water/Sewerage
  • Pres., Board of Water Commissioners
What Detroit needs is someone who is familiar with Detroit and Governor Snyder and his Treasurer Andy Dillon have made it clear that they want to pick someone who Detroiter's will be comfortable with.  Beckham and the other people listed above fit the key characteristics that Governor Snyder's team is looking for.
Detroituncovered : Best Local Blog
In what is now the 10th year of uncovering dirt and exposing the dirty Detroituncovered has once again received national recognition. Detroituncovered has been listed by a national firm as one of the best local blogs/websites in America. "Stateside is the only firm to offer clients comprehensive local government monitoring services covering more than 4,000 city and county jurisdictions nationwide," said Stateside President and CEO Constance Campanella. "It seems a natural fit for us to publish this list of what we've found to be the most comprehensive municipal and regional blogs. After all, 'all politics is local.' " This is our 2nd national recognition in recent months . The first came via the Huffington Post and its latest venture HuffPost Detroit.
Changes in Police Department raises fears
So now the hand wringing begins and the talk of the Detroit Police Department abandoning  the citizens of Detroit. For months leading up to now the community has been silent as the political mouth's such as Councilman Gary Brown has barked about the police department being top heavy with people sitting inside on desk. Of course that's patently false and its proven false by the numbers. The fact is 84% of police manpower is currently in operations, ( patrol or investigations). That means there are more officers on the street responding to or investigating crime. There is currently only 240 officers doing administrative work ( inside).  Brown would never allow facts to get in the way of his political agenda of course and no one in the media bothered to fact check him on his claim that 600 officers were sitting behind desk doing nothing. So the community by their silence accepted that claim and the outgrowth of that, whether he admits it or not, is Chief Godbee responding to that false information by virtually shutting precincts. Of course there is a need to have more officers on the streets but that could be solved by simply hiring more officers. By moving officers who perform essential functions inside to the street getting the part of police work done that citizens never see just got more difficult. Not only that it puts officers who are left inside alone at great risk- we are exactly one year removed from the Northwestern District shootout in the lobby. If that situation should occur in 2012 there is a great possibility that officers will be mourning one of their own. Citizens will have even less access to the police at the precincts because virtually nobody will be there. But when citizens go to their precincts looking for assistance there is a phone on the desk to help them with their needs. They have Gary Brown to thank for that.

Some Changes at the top
The police department saw some changes at the top Wednesday with more expected soon. In the latest game of shuffle board (smile) three Deputy Chiefs were moves around:
Janice Butler from CRIBS to Management Services
Ben Lee from MSB to Patrol Operations
James Tolbert from Patrol Operations to CRIBS
Will City, Labor Progress Avoid EM?
There is apparently some progress being made in the negotiations between the city of Detroit and its 48 unions but will it be enough. The negotiations seem to be focused on dealing with the cash flow crisis Detroit has and not the long term structural problems. Many reports have said that Detroit's legacy cost is strangling city and if the pension cost and healthcare cost for retirees is not addressed Detroit will face bankruptcy. Some say bankruptcy will be the only way to address the legacy cost.

No Layoffs
That's the latest word on whether there will be layoffs of police officers. But how will the department achieve the needed reduction in manpower? Probably through attrition or something more draconian like getting rid of the DROP (Deferred Retirement Option Programs). Police and fire fighters participate in this program which allow employees who delay retirement to receive the one-time payments when they leave, in exchange for smaller annual pensions. Such programs, generally used to keep experienced workers on the job, have raised questions around the country as governments debate how much they cost in the long run. Baltimore City's public safety unions sued to try to keep a similar program after the city decided to eliminate it. Baltimore County ended the benefit for new public safety hires in 2007, although it still has one for other employees. Detroit's police and fire department currently have approximately 800 workers in the program.
Is Public Safety Still A Priority in Detroit?
According to the Detroit News Detroit will see an increase of 14% in its homicide rate for the year 2011. Something to keep in mind as city officials talk of reducing police manpower. Here are some other numbers for you

  • Detroit's Police manpower has shrunk from 3,139 police officers in 2000 to less than 2,100 police officers today.
  • If you take Detroit’s 2010 homicide rate (that is, number of homicides divided by population) and plug it into to other cities, the results are depressing.
  • New York City would need 2590 homicides to match Detroit’s rate. Their homicide total actually jumped in 2010…to  532.
  • If Chicago had Detroit’s homicide rate, they would have had 936 homicides last year. They had 435.
  • It’s not just cities with significantly larger populations. Cleveland has less than half of Detroit’s population and just 77 homicides in 2010. If Cleveland experienced homicides at a Detroit-like clip, they would have had 145.
2012 Predictions
  • Emergency Manager will be named before April
  • Former Mayor Dennis Archer will be named EM
  • Mayor Bing will step down and return to his suburban  home
  • Council President Pugh will be embroiled in scandal
  • Feds will unveil indictments on members of the Pension Boards
  • Wayne County Executive Ficano will resign
  • Major financial restructuring of Detroit and public safety will cause Chief Godbee to resign
DetroitUncovered
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This page was last updated: February 6, 2012
Blogging is back!!!
Check out the new HuffPost Detroit blog and comment on my articles and other article and my blog archives.
If you needed a reminder of just how imprtant of a service police officers provide here in Detroit and around the country check out this video.
Outspoken Council members Pugh, Brown give staffers raises
City Council members vote unanimously to allow Council President Charles Pugh to give one of his staffers a substantial raise in pay. This comes at a time when the city of Detroit is facing a financial crisis and Councilman Pugh along with other members of City Council have been very out spoken about unions coming to the table and giving concessions. Pugh's staffer wasn't the only one voted a raise, one of Gary Brown's staffers were also voted a raise by City Council. The vote was 9-0, not one Councilperson, not even Gary Brown objected to this fiscally irresponsible act.  It is a common practice for Council members not to delve into other Council members budgets along as that members stays within their budgets. This was a case of members respecting another Council members right to spend the money in their budget as they saw fit. The Pugh staffer in question was already making a salary of $70,000 a year and this raise bumped his salary up another $6,000. He holds the title of Chief of Staff.
Note: An earlier posting listed Councilwoman Brenda Jones as one who's staffers received raises. That was incorrect. Jones staffers received pay reductions.
Prepare for a consent decree in Detroit: Rod Meloni Channel 4
Is Godbee a right now Chief?
His career could rest on Virtual Precincts
What do you think of Chief Godbee is probably one of the most asked questions of this writer by officers and citizens alike. It’s a fair question to ask considering the state of the police department today. Detroit is on pace to reach old records and set new ones in homicides and other violent crimes.  Already this year the homicides and non-fatal shootings have spiked. Some would give excuses like unusually warm temperatures to explain the January rise in homicides but that is as inane as placing various parameters on what’s a homicide and what isn’t. The fact of the matter is people are dying and families want answers. So how could the question of what do you think of Chief Godbee be answered? The easy answer is, look at the body of work and gage his success or failure on that basis; it’s a fair analysis. Chief Godbee is head of the police department during a time of great financial crisis for the city of Detroit. He is commanding a department that has seen a record loss of manpower in the last 8 years. A reduction in personnel of 1300 sworn, uniformed officers since 2002. A police department that in this decade had over 4000 officers has been cut in half. Because of this loss of manpower leadership has had to think of creative ways to maximize service delivery with fewer resources. It started with the District system that was brought to the fore under the leadership of former Chief Ella Bully Cummings. By all accounts that was a failed plan so much so that every chief since then has attempted to divide the police department back into precincts. But manpower, finances and no longer having physical locations we once had has hampered that process. Fast forward to now and still a city bleeding from financial mismanagement and less than a heart beat away from insolvency; barely managing its service delivery responsibilities. Chief Godbee is pressing to put more officers on the streets and quiet the drumbeat of politicians. So along comes a plan called Inside Out which began in August of 2011. Officers working inside would be put out on the streets to answer runs Monday-Friday. How do you measure the success of this idea, by listening to the community or relying on the authors of the program? Who do you believe? The next idea to put more officers on the streets is called virtual precincts. Under this plan police precincts would close after 4pm each day. Only a clerk and a desk supervisor would be inside and everyone else would be on the streets. The pilot program started at Northeastern District recently and would soon spread to all Districts and Precincts.  Will we really be able to quantitatively measure the success or failure of this idea? Answer unknown. One thing is clear, there is a lot riding on the success of this idea, especially the career of Chief Ralph Godbee. Psychologists commonly speak of something called the greater good. So what in this case would be the greater good?  Do you keep a Chief that some would say has been ineffective just because he speaks well and is liked by his boss or do you look at, again, the body of work? Chief Godbee not only speaks well but by all accounts he’s considered by those in the law enforcement community as “easy to work with”. He was successful in staving off layoffs for 108 officers who were handed pink slips. But when looking at the total body of work his failures have to be looked at also. Many believed he over-reacted in suspending the officers from the Northeastern District who went home sick.  Some say he will act decisively when it comes to the rank and file officers but not so when dealing with executives within the police department.  It was recently suggested to Chief Godbee that he look for cuts in his executive core since the city and police department has to make tough budgetary decisions. To date there have been no triming of those ranks. Chief Godbee was rather harsh in referring to his officers as maytag repairmen but this same hyperbole is not extended when discussing his executive ranks. As for citizens they  will judge him based on the level of service delivery. Are the cops showing up when called and is the violent acts committed against them or a family member being addressed in a timely fashion? Do they trust his leadership?

Is the ineffectiveness within his executive ranks burdensome? Has he surrounded himself with the best, most qualified executive team? Depending on whom you ask and who the discussion is about you will get a different answer. All, with the exception of Deputy Chief Tolbert, are considered nice people and are respected by the frontline officers.. But even among those they have their detractors. When asked of this group who could lead this department if Chief Godbee or Assistant Chief Logan were no longer there and generally there is a long pause; a blank stare and eventually Deputy Chief Morris Wells name will jump out. So if none of these current executives are to lead the police department going forward who then could and more importantly would do it. Who would take a job with little resources, a clogged executive pipe line, made so by double and triple promotions of non-senior mid-level managers and in a city that may be staring regionalism right in the face?  What makes the Detroit Police Department unique is many have left but haven’t gone far and they still maintain a genuine love for the city and the police department. A lot of names were mentioned such as Stacey Brackens, Sidney Bogan, Gerard Simon, James Moore (active), Ricky Brown, James Lashbrook, Clinton Kirwood, James White(active), George Hall and Arnold Wicker. But the stand outs were Gerry Johnson, James Barren, Charles Wilson, Sr., Leo Powers and Bryan Turnbull. There is no question that there have been hundreds if not thousands of talented men and women who sat among the ranks of the Detroit Police Department but never reached the level of leadership that they would’ve like to for as long as they would've liked in some cases or  never had a chance to lead at all.
Bill Belichick head Coach of the New England Patriots use to be a coach on the Detroit Lions staff back in the 70’s. In 1976, he joined the Detroit Lions as their assistant special teams coach before adding tight ends and wide receivers to his coaching duties in 1977. He left here never having the chance to be the top guy with the Lions and took his talents else where. Belichick has coached the Patriots to five Super Bowl appearances: victories in Super Bowls XXXVI, XXXVIII, and XXXIX, a loss in Super Bowl XLII and they’re back in the big game again this year. No doubt he’s at the top of his game. Take a look at the Detroit Police Department and all of the talented people who’ve come through the ranks and eventually moved on to greener pastures and different careers. The point is the police department will not have any trouble finding leadership to lead if it comes to that. Is Chief Ralph Godbee the guy to lead this team? It’s a fair question. There will come a day soon when we will have the answer.

Mayor Howze?
State Representative Lisa Howze will hold a news conference Frida to announce that she's running for Mayor of the city of Detroit in 2013. She will be the first candidate to officially announce intentions of running. Howze is also a Certified Public Accountant ( CPA), she can count.